To University Target Constituency Groups (e.g. All Students, Faculty, Staff)
Use of the Broadcast Message System allows for messaging to entire University populations, such as all students or all faculty and staff; or to certain subsets of those groups, such as all students on a specific campus.
Please note: If you request to send a broadcast message to all faculty and staff, please specify if the recipients should include non-compensated employees. By default, the automatically populated mailing list for all faculty and staff does not include non-compensated employees. Non-compensated employees are not paid directly through the university and usually don’t receive the same benefits as a full-time equivalent employee. If you have any questions about what benefits a compensated or non-compensated employee receives or the difference between compensated vs non-compensated employees, please contact the HR Service Center (617-353-2380).
No message can be sent without prior approval, so after your message is written and formatted, you will need to secure the corresponding authorization(s). Send it to the appropriate office or individual for approval as described on the Target Constituencies policy page.
To Specific Faculty or Staff
Not every faculty or staff population is covered by the mailing lists available to the broadcast message system. Automatically populated lists for colleges or departments may exist, but may not be compatible with the broadcast message system. If you are looking for a more specific group than described by the Target Constituencies policy page, you will need to email hrsys@bu.edu to request a custom list. In your request, include your unique broadcast ID number (obtained after submitting your message for scheduling), formatted like 20230621.00:00:00, as well as when you would like to have your final message sent.
Please note: HR requires up to three business days to process this request. Please submit your request far enough in advance to account for the processing time.
Once that request is processed, the list will be sent directly to specmail@bu.edu for import into the Broadcast Message System.
To Specific Students
Not every student population is covered by the mailing lists available to the broadcast message system. Automatically populated lists for students of specific colleges may exist, but may not be compatible with the broadcast message system. If you are looking for a more specific group than described by the Target Constituencies policy page, you will need to email ourrqst@bu.edu to request a custom list. In your request, include your unique broadcast ID number (obtained after submitting your message for scheduling), formatted like 20230621.00:00:00, as well as when you would like to have your final message sent.
Please note: Enrollment & Student Administration may require up to a week to process your list request. Please submit your request far enough in advance to account for the processing time.
Once that request is processed, the list will be sent directly to specmail@bu.edu for import into the Broadcast Message System.
To a Locally-Managed Distribution List
You can provide your own distribution list(s) for use in the Broadcast Message System. This might be a list that you manage locally, or obtain from a database, or purchase. To send messages in this context, the recipients do not have to be part of the BU community. (Please note that you can also send to specific mailing lists from Outlook or a similar mail client, as described on our Mailing Lists pages.)
Typically, locally-managed lists come in an Excel spreadsheet and, if so, you should supply just the column of email addresses (each address in its own row). No other detail is needed in the spreadsheet. When supplying the list, you’ll want to be sure that email addresses are current and remove any additional spaces, invalid characters (such as semi-colons or commas), or duplicate entries.
To a BUworks/SAP List
If you need to send a message to people with a specific role in BUworks/SAP, you can do that using email addresses that are output from SAP. This might include, for example, a message to all “Shoppers and Approvers” or all “Timekeepers.” Typically, if you are in this situation, you have a contact on the BUworks team who can help you generate that list, with the assistance of the SAP Security Team. Alternatively, you can submit a ticket to ithelp@bu.edu and the IT Help Center will request the list from the SAP Security Team for you.
Typically, output from SAP comes in an Excel spreadsheet and that’s all that will be needed. Obviously, when supplying the list, you’ll want to be sure that it’s current. If more than a week or two has passed since you last obtained the same list from BUworks, it’s recommended that you request a new one.
To the Key University Administrator List
If you wish to send a message to the University’s Key Administrators, you can do that using email addresses that are output from the “Key Admin List.” You should request this list at www.bu.edu/hr/home/forms/key-administrator-list/. As described below, the list will then be sent directly to the IT Help Center for import into the Broadcast Message System.
Please note: HR requires up to three business days to process this request. Please submit your request far enough in advance to account for the processing time.
Once that request is processed, the list will be sent directly to specmail@bu.edu for import into the Broadcast Message System. If you specify, a copy will also be sent to you.